‘All sorts and conditions of men’: The social origins of the founders of the ICAEW

The early organisation of accountants in Scotland during the 1850s and 1860s has excited the intellectual curiosity and research endeavour of a number of students of professionalisation. By contrast, until recently there was a dearth of academic interest in institutional developments in England and Wales during the 1870s and 1880s. Yet, organisations such as the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) which emanate from this period soon became the most significant players on the British professional scene and were to exert considerable influence on the development of accountancy institutions and professional ideologies in several locations. Exploiting a variety of genealogical sources this paper seeks to fill a void in the literature by analysing the social origins of the founding members of the principal professional association in England and Wales. It provides evidence of early chartered accountancy as a destination for long distance, upwardly mobile males, both intergenerationally and intragenerationally. The rate of self-recruitment among the founders of the ICAEW is shown to be low. The proportion of founders deriving from the upper and upper-middle classes is revealed to have been markedly less than that of their Scottish counterparts. The paper contributes to understandings of the complex professionalisation of British accountants, the extent of social mobility in Victorian Britain, the pathways to social advance in a class-based society, and illuminates the social complexion of one of the ‘new’ professions which emerged during the nineteenth century.     

Fiscal Policy in Southeast Asia

Monetary policy was ineffective in dealing with the 1997 Asian macroeconomic crisis. Fiscal policy might have been more effective but was not considered for a variety of reasons.     

Why Do Nations Trade (So Little)?

There is not nearly as much trade as standard models suggest there should be. Formal trade barriers and transport costs are too low to account for the difference. The pattern of missing trade has interesting variation across country pairs. These clues suggest the need for theoretical and eventually structural empirical work on the missing transactions costs. This paper reviews recent empirical findings and some promising research directions in search, predation and contract theory.     

十字路口必做两件大事

在过去的10年里，中国作为一个大工业中心的发展是极其显著的。统计数据给人留下了深刻的印象，并且这种增长势头还会持续一段时间。中国之路将带来可喜的成果，中国人民在这种增长和繁荣的大环境下将受益匪浅。当然，重要的是要让工业领导者理解他们现在正处在一个十字路口，他们的举动会促进过去10年里的增长或使之功亏一篑。     

Stock market perceptions of the motives for mergers in cases reviewed by the UK competition authorities: an empirical analysis

A number of studies have considered the motivation of managers to follow a merger strategy. However, as far as we are aware none has looked at the influence of competition regulation on merger motives using stock market data and event study techniques. Data drawn from 63 merger cases in the UK between 1989 and 2003 are examined for the stock market's perceptions of what motivated managers to pursue their initial merger bid. The findings suggest that the Synergy and Hubris dominate as motivations for mergers and that, unintentionally, competition policy may help to reduce the number of mergers motivated by Managerialism. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Microelectronics and manpower in China

This article examines the relationships between microelectronics and manpower in Chinese enterprises in the context of the economic reforms. It focuses on skills and training developments and the potential for technology transfer.     

Federal health care policy and the public-general hospital

Conclusion Although a stringent policy environment adversely affects both private and public hospitals, the market circumstances are worse for public hospitals. Because they are providers of last resort, they do not have as much flexibility as private hospitals in determining the quantity and scope of services they provide.